Tangled Hearts (Passion in Paradise)

by Sarah O'Rourke

  “I’m an idiot,” she mumbled, staring at the arched doorway leading to the bedroom. She needed to put things right with him. Not just for his sake, but for hers, too. Because she’d stopped falling for him in the last ten minutes.

  Oh, yeah. She’d stopped falling.

  She finally could admit that she’d fallen. Hook, line, and freaking sinker.

  Pushing her body off the buttery leather seat, she inhaled deeply as she peeled the cotton shirt from her body and released the clasp on her bra, dropping her clothing to the floor before unfastening her jeans and pushing them down her legs before she could talk herself out of her plan. Nude, she stood there a moment, chewing her lower lip nervously as she searched for the courage the long walk to the bathroom would take.

  Callum had said he wanted her naked and naughty in Nashville, hadn’t he?

  Well, she thought bravely as she lifted her hands to adjust her breasts, it was way past time for her to make a little noise in Music City.

  Chapter Seventeen: When God Gives With BOTH Hands

  Violently slamming the bathroom door behind him with a furious flick of his wrist as he crossed the threshold of the marble and gold oasis that was supposed to be a room to take a leak in, Callum Valentine wondered if waging war in Afghanistan hadn’t been easier than winning the heart of the woman with which he’d stupidly fallen in love. RJ had warned him a couple of weeks ago when he’d asked his best friend for formal permission to see his sister that Melody would require a wealth of patience and mental fortitude to date. Like an ass, Cal had laughed the younger man’s wise words off and chosen to believe that the woman in question would be equally unable to resist BOTH his charm and his cock.

  Turns out, she was pretty damned good at resisting each one. Whether they’d worked alone or in unison, both his ego and his heart had taken a direct hit.

  And that shit had hurt like a bitch with teeth buried deep in his beating heart.

  This was saying a lot since he’d been shot, blown up and tortured during his long career with the military. Melody, though, had inflicted more damage than the Taliban had ever thought about doing to him.

  Stripping his shirt over his head, he hurled it at the wall.

  The woman had one hell of a fuckin’ nerve suggesting such an asinine thing to him.

  “Friends with fuckin’ benefits?” he growled out loud, still shaking his head at the asinine idea that had come from her sweetly curved lips. Was she fucking insane? If he’d wanted that kind of arrangement, he’d have gotten her into bed the first week he’d been staying in her house. He could have done it, too! He’d seen those long longing looks she’d directed at him when she’d thought he was oblivious to her. Fuck, that woman had been begging for a good, hard fuck with those big, bottomless brown eyes of hers.

  But, no! He’d been a fucking gentlemen, he seethed silently. A decent fuckin’ guy. Look what that shit had gotten him. He had a broken heart, a hard cock, and zero fuckin’ patience left.

  And to top it all off? What was the stinking cherry on his own personal shit sundae of life?

  He was sharing a hotel suite with a female demon destined to drive him into a demented rage.

  Shit, he should have just stuck with fucking bitches that knew the score upfront. Those chicks that could be found in every bar from here to eternity were fuckin’ dependable. A man knew exactly what to expect from them and the rules were simple: offer them a nice meal and a few compliments and they’d open they’re legs like their hips had been greased for action. A guy could go in, get off and get gone without the worry of hurt feelings and unrealistic expectations.

  Damn, he missed those days, and sadly, no matter what, he knew they were over for him.

  “All because I fell into this jacked up trap known as love,” he muttered resentfully as he shoved his jeans off his hips and kicked them toward the corner of the bathroom before stomping toward the huge walk-in shower. Barely sparing a look at the dual showerheads, he jabbed a finger against the control panel, starting the water. It wasn’t fair, he thought to himself as he waited for the water to heat. He’d done everything right with Melody. He’d moved more slowly than he’d ever moved with a woman. He’d given a mind to what she’d been through with the cheating prick she’d been engaged to marry. Hell, he’d been more careful with her feelings than he ever had with anybody he’d ever come in contact with. Sure, he’d been bluntly honest about what he wanted, but after she’d been lied to for so long by the shithead before him, he thought she’d appreciate his truthfulness and candor. He didn’t want a short term affair where they both got their rocks off, but no real connection ever got made.

  Fuck, no.

  He wanted her – all of her. The body. The heart. The soul. All of it, even the incredibly irritating, infinitely annoying package she came wrapped up inside.

  And he was willing to put up with a whole world of bullshit maneuvering to have her.

  Moving to stand underneath the pulsating spray, he bent his neck and let the thumping stream of water hit the nape of his neck, praying it could help relieve some of the tension he felt battering his body. Of course, he doubted that was possible, he mentally acknowledged as he stared down at the rock hard erection he still sported despite his anger. Palming his dick in his hand, he offered his throbbing member a slow stroke as he closed his eyes and imagined Melody’s mouth. Only now, instead of spouting utter bullshit suggestions at him, those damp, luscious lips were parted over the crest of his aching cock, her tongue toying with the small slit at his tip.

  God, now that was what that sweet, succulent mouth Melody had on her had always been meant to do…. wrap around his swollen dick and suck him like a Hoover vacuum. “Fuck, yeah,” he grunted, tightening his fist around himself and pumping faster. His hand wasn’t a tenth as good as he knew her mouth or pussy would be, but he was a desperate man, damn it!

  “Do you need help handling that situation?” he heard a heartbreakingly familiar honeyed voice ask from outside the clear etched glass of the shower. Dropping his dick like a hot potato, he jerked his head toward the sound, one foot already moving toward her as he ripped the sliding door between them open. “What the hell do you think you’re doing in here, woman?” he barked, his dick flexing against his thigh as it leapt happily as he got a full-on view of her gloriously naked body on display in front of him.

  “I thought I was an invited guest to this party,” Melody responded a smidge uncertainly as she kept her eyes on his.

  “Mel, I don’t know what kind of game you think you’re playin’ here,” he began gruffly, lifting a hand to wipe the droplets of water off his face as he caught her slight flinch when he raised his arm. “What the hell? You think I’m gonna hit you, Princess?” he asked, frowning hard as he saw her get control of herself. Breathing hard, he took a half step toward her. “Honest to God, babe, you think that, and we got even more problems between us,” he warned softly. “I’ve never hurt a woman, and I’ll be damned if I let you think that I would.”

  “No!” she denied. “It’s just that you moved so suddenly that it startled me,” she explained, extending her arm to rest her hand on his heaving chest. “Cal, I know you’d never hurt me or any other girl. Honest,” she assured him firmly. “I came in here to apologize to you. I should never have suggested what I did. I can see that now,” she went on quietly, her teeth catching her lower lip as she held his turbulent gaze. “It not even what I really wanted either,” she confided huskily. “I was just too much of a coward to be honest about how I felt.”

  “And how’s that?” he replied, unwilling to give her an inch until he fully understood why she’d come in here with him. As badly as he wanted to touch her, to pull her into his body and tell her that he’d move heaven and Earth to make everything good and right with her world, he wouldn’t until he knew she completely understood that this was no game to him. He wanted her. All of her. In a real permanent way. “I’m gonna need you to say it, Melody, and be crystal clear about what you wa
nt from me when you do.”

  “I want to be with you and not just as your friend with benefits,” she revealed in a small voice. “Tell me I didn’t screw that up completely, Callum. Please,” she whispered.

  Feeling her soft hand shakily stroke the hard wall of his chest, Callum settled one hand against the side of her neck and drew her toward him. “That depends, baby, on what you want me to be to you. You willin’ to put your fear of getting hurt again to the side and try this with me? I’ll do everything I can to be a good man for you, but I’m not gonna lie… I need my woman to be strong and brave. I need her to be willing to take a risk on me.”

  Melody blinked up at him, her coffee colored eyes wary. “You can’t hurt me, Callum. I’m not a bit scared of you physically, but emotionally…” she trailed off, swallowing hard.

  “Emotionally, what, Princess?” Callum urged, his hand tightening on her neck as his other hand lifted and gently pushed her long, unruly hair behind one ear. Unable to hold his gaze, Cal watched Melody’s eyes move to stare at his throat, watching his Adam’s apple as he swallowed. “C’mon, Mel. You’ve made it this far. Keep going.”

  “Brad savaged my pride, Cal. He decimated my trust. Not just in him, but in myself, too. Because of him, I doubt my own judgment. So, as badly as I want this thing between us to work, I’m terrified that I’m going to make another mistake with another man. And while Brad’s betrayal hurt, I survived it. With you, I’m not so sure that I’d come out of it still whole. Still me.”

  “Melody, I can make you all the promises in the world, but we both know that they’re just pretty words. A man’s actions are what you should measure. What do my actions tell you about me?” he asked, leaning his forehead against hers as felt her sexy body move closer to his, the tips of her stiff nipples scraping erotically against his chest.

  “That you care about me a whole lot more than Brad ever did. That you want me safe and protected from anything that would hurt me. That you’re willing to do whatever it takes to make that happen… even when it pisses me off. Your actions say that I can trust you with my heart,” she finally shared almost shyly.

  “Good instincts you’ve got there, Princess,” Cal murmured, his warm breath mingling with hers as their noses bumped. “Trust them,” he advised deeply. “Trust me,” he insisted before dipping his head to cover her lips, tangling their tongues together the way he wanted their hearts to entwine. Fiercely. Wildly.

  Groaning as her arms crept around his neck, he grinned against her mouth as she rose on her toes and rubbed her damp body against his. The spray from the still running shower had ghosted over her skin, dampening it with a fine mist of water. Lifting his head to stare down at her generous curves, he knew he’d never seen anything sexier. “God, you’re beautiful,” he breathed, sliding his hands down her long neck to cup her heavy tits in his hands. “And you’ve got the prettiest tits I’ve ever seen,” he praised, his voice raspy with desire and need as his thumbs tortured her turgid little nipples.

  Arching her back, Melody moaned as Cal walked her backward into the shower until she leaned against one wall. “Oh, God, that feels good,” she gasped, tilting her head back as he watched her glory in his touch.

  “Love your body, baby, but I very badly need to get a good long look at what you’ve admitted is finally mine, babe,” he insisted, taking a step back from her even though it physically pained him.

  “Good, because I want a nice look at you, too,” Melody declared, her own voice trembling with passion as she blinked the water from her eyes and slowly took in his body for the first time.

  Cal felt his cock swell painfully as her eyes slowly traveled down his body from his face to his chest to finally settle on his angry dick.

  “Holy God,” she breathed, her eyes dilating as they stared at his thickened penis. “That…that…”

  “…is all yours, babe,” Cal supplied cheekily. “See, I’m what happens when God gives with both of His hands,” he shared teasingly, reaching down to stroke his cock again, enjoying the way those amazing eyes of hers widened on his equipment. Grinning widely when she licked her lips, hungrily, he asked, “You like what you see, Princess?”

  “I…you…. Wow!” she breathed, her hand reaching out to touch his very healthy eight inches. “That’s not gonna fit, Callum,” she worried out loud.

  “It’ll fit,” he countered confidently, hissing in a breath as her velvety grip tightened, moving his throbbing pole slowly through her grip.

  Slowly going to her knees in front of him, Callum watched as her face moved closer to his staff. Bracing one hand against the granite wall, he groaned when he felt her hot breath against his aroused flesh. “Fuck, babe,” he managed to growl as her agonizing grip on him shifted again, sliding him through her palm.

  “I hate to tell you this, Cal, but your banana looks to be a weapon of mass pussy destruction. I think we’re gonna have problems, honey.”

  “I think you think too much,” Cal muttered, burying the fingers of one hand in her hair. “Please, sweetness, I’ve dreamed of having your sexy mouth wrapped around me since the moment I laid eyes on you. Fantasies of what that sassy mouth can do have kept me up more nights than I wanna admit. Put me out of my misery. Suck it, baby. Suck that cock for your man,” he implored her with a low moan as her soft lips brushed the head of his dick.

  “Like this?” She whispered, parting her lips and slowly licking him like a lollypop, moving her tongue from his weeping slit to the root of his cock with one long, slow swipe of her tongue.

  “Fuck, that feels good,” he growled, watching every lap her tongue made against his aching rod. “Enough taunting me though, Melody. Put me in your mouth and suck,” he commanded roughly, pressing his tip against her smiling lips as she looked coyly up at him, batting her eyelashes playfully. Fuck, he was prepared to beg if that’s what it took, but he was relieved to see her rosy mouth open a second later, taking him deep into the warm wet cavern of her mouth.

  “Aw, fuck,” he bit out brokenly as her cheeks hollowed out and she leaned forward, taking him to the back of her throat and swallowing. Tightening his hand in her hair as he continued to brace the other against the wall, Cal wondered for the first time in his life if he could keep from blowing his load like a teenage boy getting laid for the first time. Warm wet heat tightened around his cock, milking him with the sweetest of grips. Her touch was taking him as close to paradise as he’d ever been in his forty plus years of life. “Goddamn, baby,” he groaned, pumping his hips against her ravenous mouth, “I love the way you suck my dick, but if you don’t ease up, this is gonna be over before I get a nice long taste of your pussy. Remember your sweet flavor, babe. It’s burned on my memory, but I want another,” he rasped, pulling his cock from the heavenly confines of her mouth as she made a low cry of distress much like someone who’d been robbed of their favorite treat.

  “But, Cal,” she whined, her expressive eyes looking up beseechingly at him, “I don’t mind if…”

  “I mind,” he stated deeply, rubbing his thumb against her swollen lower lip. “You’ll get your time to play, Princess… once I’ve had my fill of you,” he explained with a wolfish grin as he pulled her to her feet and walked her to the wide bench seat hanging off one wall as the water continued to shower over them. Lightly pressing her shoulder until she sat down, he chuckled when her eager eyes fastened onto his cock bobbing in front of her face. Pressing his finger to her lips when her mouth would have engulfed him in her liquid heat again, he shook his head. “Nuh uh. It’s my turn to taste,” he informed her, dropping to his knees and draping her legs over his shoulders.

  Using one hand to separate her slick folds, he smiled when he saw her swollen female flesh shiny with her need, her clit already pink and pulsating with desire. Running his thumb lightly over the enflamed nub, he grinned roguishly when she released a needy whimper from her gasping lips. “You need me to take care of this for you, baby?” he asked gently, stroking the puffy nubbin again and pulling
a keening cry from her mouth. “Is that deep ache in your pussy driving you crazy yet, darlin’? Is the aching emptiness clawing at you?”

  “Yes,” Melody moaned, pressing her head against the hard wall behind her. “Please, Cal,” she begged, unsure quite what she was begging for.

  “You know firsthand what my tongue can do for this pretty little pussy, baby. Do you want that? Or do you want my hard cock to pound away at that throbbing emptiness inside you?” he questioned, taking a perverse pleasure in toying with her. After all, she’d kept him waiting for weeks while she got her head straight; he deserved a little payback now, didn’t he?

  “I don’t care,” she moaned. “Either…both. Just give me something,” she pleaded.

  Tunneling two fingers into the tight depths of her pussy, Cal caught her low cry with his lips. “There’s something, baby,” he crooned, pumping his fingers in and out of her wet cunt.

  “N-not enough, Cal,” she panted, lifting her hips to meet the steady thrusts of his hand. “I need more,” she whimpered against his lips. “Please, honey. Give me more.”